The members of the OSCE verification team seized by separatists in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, are being held in "inhuman conditions" in the basement of a building the abductors use as their headquarters, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said in a statement on Saturday.
One of the captives urgently needs medical aid, it said.
The antiterrorist operation headquarters is willing to provide such aid, but the captors have denied such a possibility, the SBU said.
“Ukraine underscores an extreme necessity for the Russian Federation to officially distance itself from and condemn the terrorist activities in Sloviansk and, as an OSCE member, support the urgent and unconditional release of the hostages and their provision with medical and other assistance,” the SBU said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier on Saturday that “Russia is taking whatever measures it can to resolve the situation surrounding the detention of military inspectors from a number of countries near Sloviansk.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in an earlier statement that a multinational inspection group was set to work in Ukraine from April 21 to April 28, 2014 in keeping with the 2011 OSCE Vienna Document on Confidence and Security Building Measures. The group includes four citizens of Germany, one Swedish, one Polish, one Danish, and one Czech national.
“In keeping with the 2011 Vienna Document, the inspection team is being accompanied by five representatives of the verification directorate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” it said.
The multinational inspection group’s visit is designed to monitor the situation in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine and look for ways to engage the international community in its peaceful settlement, the verification directorate said.
